Gennaro Luce learned firsthand about the stress involved with finding an extended-care facility that matched his wife’s grandmother’s needs when they were handed a list of options a day and a half before she was scheduled to be discharged. It wasn’t nearly enough time to research the facilities to see if they were right for her. She had to be moved three times in six months until they found the best match.
The combined needs of hospitals trying to avoid re-admission penalties and a less cumbersome way for patients and their adult children and spouses to find appropriate extended-care facilities has spurred Luce’s company Sequentia and other healthcare startups to develop solutions that satisfy both.
“If we address the needs and wants of patients but not of hospital systems and extended-care providers, it’s not workable,” Luce said. “I thought to myself, ‘There has to be a better way to connect the dots.'”
Luce is the CEO and founder of Sequentia, a Cleveland, Ohio-based health IT company. Last month it launched a discharge planning and placement platform for hospitals. The company already had a patient portal that allows patients and their families to search for appropriate facilities online. The company claims its discharge planner can reach into any hospital’s electronic medical record through HL7 so physicians can pull in patient information relevant to the next facility the patient would go to, such as post acute care information.
For example, the patient may need an extended-care facility skilled at treating patients with cardiac issues, but they may not have the resources to treat patients who also have postoperative wounds that need special care.
Luce also sees the planner as a way to improve patient satisfaction scores — HCAHPS scores — by making the transition in care less stressful.
With about 60,000 extended-care providers, search options include independent living, hospice, short-term care, long-term home care, mental illness, drug and alcohol rehab. One option recently added is facilities equipped to handle residents with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. I would have thought most extended-care facilities would have that capability anyway, but some are better equipped than others.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Users can pick a city and state and stretch the radius from five miles to 100 miles. They can choose from a large listing of insurance carriers and look for the primary level of medical care required. They can also search with criteria such as facilities that offer postoperative care. The more specific users are, the more useful the results.
In a nod to the hospitality industry, users can search for facilities with personal amenities, such as Wi-Fi or pet visits. It also includes extended-care providers beyond its network, but member facilities have an added advantage of being able to link users to their websites and can offer a more detailed picture of what they offer. Non members get a basic summary.
Luce senses an opportunity in getting hospitals ready for Meaningful Use Stage 2 certification. He said the company is in the process of getting EHR certification to do this.
In response to the aging Baby Boomer population, several healthcare startups have developed search tools for families such as Cariloop. Other companies have focused on discharge planning not just for extended-care facilities but also for post-acute care needs such as MyAidin and Right Care Solutions.
